News from All Around:

While, I don’t necessarily miss fund-raisers, I do imagine that I would like this sort of effort. I‘ve heard of a similar effort involving flamingoes.

CHATHAM, NJ — When Barbara Murphy heard "a commotion" on her front lawn Monday night, she thought college students home for the summer were having some fun. It was not until her daughter Colleen came home later that she learned her front yard had some new occupants. "Colleen came in that night, and she could barely speak, she was laughing so hard," Murphy said.

The commotion came from members of local youth ministries who set up about a dozen garden gnomes in Murphy’s yard. JoAnne Babbitt, who woke up to the gnomes in her yard Saturday morning, donated money to send the gnomes to Murphy. The gnomes raise money for the Appalachia Outreach Program for youth ministry teens from St. Patrick Church in Chatham Borough and St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison.

Read more from the Chatham Patch.

News from “Round Here:

Monday was spent primarily at a parish as part of the Bishop’s visitation team, meeting with staff and parishioners.  Had a great conversation with a transitioning youth minister about finishing well and starting strong. Came back into the office and had a solid conversation with a staff member regarding future plans.

Tuesday, there was supposed to be a staff meeting but we were short staff to pull that off.  Georgina and I worked on projects and I drafted something for use with our pilgrimage cross for the upcoming year. The evening involved a vespers prayer with the Archbishop-elect.

Wednesday was installation day of the new Arch.  I was in early in the morning, mostly wrapping up a report from Monday’s visit. Thursday was a day of check-ins.  The E-team celebrated its role in the installation and I had two impromptu meetings with staff.

Friday, I grabbed a day off, finishing off the day with an investment for a dream. *which in a quieter week was actually Saturday, I spent a portion of a day developing a power-point to be delivered on-line for next week. I like the creative process of image selection so it doesn’t feel as much as work.  The evening involved a viewing of Marvel’s The Avengers, which was fine but not world-shattering.

Sunday was also a quiet day, finishing off the later afternoon the act of helping to bury the dead.